Fish cutting and cleaning machine



Sept. 5, 1950 H. MINAKER FISH CUTTING AND CLEANING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet Filed July 29, 1944 O E M M M a: M n mum m Ow aw dug [Q4 $8 W Q hm N WE p 1950 H. L. MINAKER 2,521,241

FISH CUTTING AND CLEANING MACHINE Filed July 29, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 W Snnentor MW, gwww (Ittomegs Sept. 5, 1950 H. 1.. MINAKER FISH CUTTING AND CLEANING MACHINE Filed July 29, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 5, 1950 FISH CUTTING AND CLEANING MACHINE Herbert L. Minaker', Syracuse;- N. Y., assignor to Continental Can. Oompanyglncr, .New York,. N. Y.,a corporation of N ew-York.

Application Jilly 29,1944, Serial No; 547,188

- Claims.

1 The inventionmrelates to new and useful improvements ina fish cutting. and cleaning machine of the type shownin the patent granted tozrMer-vin O. Palmeron September 25, 1934, No.

-1;9U5,l)18;= In this machinethe fish is placed in.

as series of impaling pins l4 mounted on the fem-removing the: head and tail and for cutting the fish intovtwo lengths. The carrier is then turnedzand-presented to a cutting knife which sltts thefish lengthwise, after which aspreader separatesethe. sides and a cleaning brush removes 'thesentrails- Anobjectof the. present invention is to provide a machine of the above type with arotating cutter for removing:thezbellyportion of-the fish.

Aifu-rtherobjectof the invention isto provide aacarrier. for the. fish wherein the body portion ani'dwtail. portion of. the fish are individually clampedsandufirinly held in the carrier whilethe 'fiiiliis being presented to the knife for removingv thesbell'yg portion.

These and other objects willi'n part be obvious.

tudinalposition and the presser bars operating upon the carrierfor clamping the fish firmly to thecarrier during the cutting of the belly'por- 'tion therefrom; and" Figure T'isa"diagrammatic view showing the guid' railfwhich positively swings the carrier to itsdnitial transverse position.

"Ihe"ma'cliilfie' includes a suitable supporting frame-l; on which is .mountedan endless conveyor 2K The endless conveyor is made up of a seriesoflinks"pivoted'together, thus forming an endless conveyor of "thechain type. The con veyorrunsover' a sprocket Wheel 3 at the receitingendof the machine and a sprocket wheel 4' at='th e delivery'en'd of themachin'e. A slice 5 contacts with the lower -run of the chain andi tiices upwhe'slackin the chain." Mounted on 2:. selectedlinksiin the chain' are-carriers fiz- These carriers are all ofsimilar construction and l the description of one will answer forthe others. The carrier consists of a' base plate 'l 'having" a fixed jaw 9 attached thereto. The inner face: of this'jaw is curved to conform generally to'th'ecurvature of a fish body in cross'section'. 'Also' mounted on the baseplate 1 aretwo pivoted jaws-l0 and II. The jawll ispivotedat-lf and leaf springs [3, l3fixed to the b'odyporti'om of the carrier extend=underneath the jaw, bear ing against the bottom portion thereof. The bottom portionof the jaw has-its inner edge roundedand when the jaw is moved=inward, it will fie-X the springs Lso 'that the springswill normally tendito force the -j aw outward for 'a-l-im-ited-l distance. The carrier jawxlfl is'of similar construction and is likewise provided with a leaf spring yieldingly holding the 4 jaw in its outer position so thatthe carrier is opened preparatory to the receiving of thefi'sh therein. There are a series of impaling pins-M-mounted on the fixed jaw which position the fish in thecarrierl The links of-the conveyor-on which the carriers are mounted include a hub-l5 to-=which are at tached guide plates-t6- adaptedto slidealongtracks. l7, l'l carried by the main sir-amen At certain sections oft-themachineareside frame members supported by the tracks and overhangingv the' guideplates; as indicated "at It The" hub is mounted ina conveyorlink indicated? at l9. Journalledein the" hub is a-shortshaft20 carryinga disk '2! at its upper end which fits in a recess in the base plate 'l'of thecarrier:

. Pins 2'2, 22 'm-ounted on the diskengage-recesses in the base plate so that the base plate willtum' with the disk when the shaft 20"is oscillatedi Attached to the lower endof'the-shaft-is a;

bracket arm 23 carrying a roller 24. Thereis also-a second bracket arm" ZE-attaehed to said" shaft which-carries a' roll-ch26; These' -brack'etf: armsare 'connectedtothe shaft at right angles? 3 After passing these cutting knives the carrier is rotated through an arc of 90 so that the carrier extends lengthwise of the path of travel of the conveyor. This is accomplished by the shaping of the guide rails. The guide rail 21 at the left, as viewed in Figure 6, is curved to the right away from the path of travel of the conveyor and this will gradually force the roller 26 to the right, causing the shaft to turn in a clockwise direction and thus the carrier is turned from the transverse position toward a longitudinal position as shown in this Figure 6. The roller 24 will be moved to a position so that it engages a cam rail 30 and will pass in between this cam rail 39 and a cam rail 3|. These cam rails 30 and 3i lead to straight guiding sections 32, 32 so that the roller 24 will pass along between these guiding sections 32, 32 and hold the carrier in its longitudinal set position.

It will be understood that these guiding devices which position the carrier through operation upon the rollers 24 and 2B are all located beneath the path of travel of the conveyor. Mounted above the path of travel of the conveyor are guide bars which firmly hold the jaws of the carrier in clamping engagement with the fish while the belly portion of the fish is being removed. One of these guide bars has a stationary section indicated at 33. The receiving end of this guide bar is tapered as indicated at 34 so as to direct the fixed jaws of the carrier along the inner side of this guide rail 33. This makes a rigid fixed support which holds the carrier from lateral movement as it travels along the same.

The guide rail 35 at the opposite side of the machine is carried by a supporting bracket 36. Said guide rail is supported by bolts slidable in the bracket and springs 31, 31 placed between the guide rail 35 and the bracket normally force the guide rail inward toward the center line of the machine and the heads of the bolts limit this inward movement. The receiving end of the guide rail 35 is tapered as indicated at 38. There is a second guide rail 39 carried by the bracket 36. This guide rail 39 is supported by bolts 40 and springs 4| serve to force the guide rail inwardly, the heads of the bolts limiting the inward movement of the guide rails.

As the carrier approaches these guide rails the movable jaw l I will contact with the tapered portion 38 of the guide rail 35 and will be forced inward by said guide rail through the action of the springs 31 thereon. As this movable jaw ll passes off from the guide rail 35 it will contact with the guide rail 39 which also has a tapered end 42 and this guide rail 39 will then yieldingly press this jaw I l of the carrier against the fish, clamping the fish firmly against the fixed jaw 9 of the carrier which is backed up by the guide rail 33. The movable jaw ID as it comes into contact with the guide rail 35 will be moved into clamping engagement with the tail end portion of the fish. 7

Each of the movable jaws has its inner face serrated as indicated at 43, which aids in the firm grip of the fish by the carrier. The carrier with its firm grip upon the fish presents the fish to a horizontally rotating cutting knife 44 which is preferably provided with a serrated edge and is therefore in the nature of a saw. This cutting saw is mounted on a shaft 45 mounted for rotation in a bracket 46 which in turn is carried by cross rods, one of which is indicated at 41 in Figure 2. These cross rods are mounted in posts 48. The shaft 45 carries a bevel gear 49 meshing with a bevel gear 50 and this beve'l' gear 50 is fixed on a shaft 51 which carries a sprocket wheel 5|. A sprocket chain 52 runs over the sprocket wheel 5! and imparts rotation to the horizontally moving saw. This sprocket chain also operates the cutters on the shaft 28. In Figure 2 of the drawings the fish is indicated at F. It is firmly clamped between the jaws 9 and H and while clamped to the carrier, it is presented to the saw 44 and the belly portion F is cut so that it is removed and discarded. The reason for providing the carrier with two clamping jaws is to ensure that the tail portion of the fish, which is of less thickness than the main body portion, will be firmly clamped to the carrier. The same reason applies for making the guide rails 35 and 39 separate. It is the guide rail 35 operating upon the jaw l0 that clamps the tail portionof the fish firmly while the belly portion is being cut from the fish and it is the guide rail 39 acting on the jaw l l which clamps the body portion of the fish during this fish. The carrier next presents the fish so as to permit a brush 55 to enter and remove the entrails. This brush will effectively clean the entire visceral cavity.

After the carrier control rollers leave the guide' rails and the carriers pass around the sprocket 4, the carrier will be free and because of its off center weight, it will shift to some extent toward a transverse position. Associated with the sprocket wheel 3 at the receiving end is a guide rail 56. This guide rail as shown in a diagrammatical view (Figure '7) is inclined and will engage the roller 26 and this will positively swing the carrier to a transverse position.

It is obvious that minor changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A fish dressing machine comprising an endless conveyor, a series of carriers mounted thereon, a horizontally rotating cutter having a cutting edge mounted above said carriers and operating upon fish placed bottom up in thecar riers for removing the belly portion of the fish, each carrier including fixed jaws and a movable jaw associated with each fixed jaw, and guides mounted parallel to the conveyor for engaging said jaws for forcing the movable jaws into firm clamping contact with the fish during removal of the belly portion of the fish.

2. A fish dressing machine comprising an endless conveyor, a series of carriers mounted thereon, a horizontally rotating cutter having afcutting edge mounted above said carriers and operating upon fish placed bottom up in the car.- riers for removing the belly portion of thefish, each carrier including fixed jaws and a movable jaw associated with each fixed jaw, and guides mounted parallel to the conveyor for engaging said jaws for forcing the movable jaws into firm clamping contact with the fish during removal of the belly portion of the fish, each movable jaw having serrations on its inner face for firmly gripping the fish and holding it from endwise movement in the carrier.

3. In a machine of the class described, an endless conveyer, a series of carriers mounted on the conveyer, means for holding a fish bottom up in each carrier, a vertical shaft for mounting each carrier, a pair of right-angularly disposed bracket arms fixed to each shaft, one arm of each pair extending longitudinally beneath the carrier, and parallel guide rails fixedly mounted in the path of said arms for engaging the arms and positioning the carrier axis longitudinally with respect to the direction of travel of the conveyor.

4. A machine of the class described comprising a conveyer, a series of carriers pivotally mounted on the conveyer, each of said carriers having a hinged side jaw, spring means holding the jaw in open position, a trimming knife mounted in a line of travel of the conveyer as the carriers pass the said knives, a trimming knife mounted in a horizontal plane parallel to and above the plane of the conveyer beyond the vertical knives, a pair of stationary cam rails for giving the carriers a quarter-turn before reaching the trimming knife and a stationarily mounted guide rail for moving each hinged jaw to closing position during the passage of the carriers past the said trimming knife.

HERBERT L. MINAKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,647,170 Barry Nov. 1, 1927 1,819,060 Baader Aug. 18, 1931 1,975,018 Palmer Sept. 25, 1931 2,092,262 Rieske Sept. 7, 1937 2,149,021 Hunt Feb. 28, 1939 2,344,476 Turnbull Mar. 1 1, 1944 2,353,654 Danielsson .a July 18, 194 1 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 222,621 Great Britain Oct. 9, 1924 

